Bartman

Well let me clarify Magma. The character I am designing will have a 10d6 EB. To this 10d6 I wanted to add an additional 5d6 only usable to spread. These 5d6 cannot be used for damage under any circumstances. But they will allow the character to do a number of spreading tricks without having to lower the damage of the base 10d6. The limitation will only be applied to the additional 5d6. The cost for this construction will be 50pts +12 to 17pts depending on the level of the limitation my GM allows. And after watching all the discussion here I'm planning on argueing for a -3/4 limitation (basically a variation on the limit does no stun).

Hmm. Someone should drop the Morpheus Unbound a note then. I was just going by their claim that it was "originally published in Adventurer's Club #3, 1983." It has been a decade or more since I've seen a copy of the first dozen or so ACs.

As of 5th it can boost damage in Superheroic campaigns too.

Tell you what prestidigitator. I'll let you try to argue that one with my GM. Even I don't have that much chutzpa.

30DC attacks are entering the realm of nuclear weapons. If I were a player I would be left speachless if a GM hit me with a 10d6 KA. Hit em with a 6d6 or 7d6 KA. They will still fear the guy, and they'll live to fear him again and again.

That was AC 3. The adventure was "What Rough Beast." And its author has put it up online for free here.

Bingo! I was in an abortive campaign where the GM allowed a first time Hero gamer to have x16 duplication. The player was slow in systems he was familiar with. And he most certainly was not familiar with Hero. Add in the fact that he had to think out each dupes actions in detail and the very existance of the character slowed the game to a crawl. Out of combat each dupe had to go a different way and investigate a different thing. In combat they would each pick different opponents and take unique actions, so the GM couldn't even just say "roll once for your to hit roll for each character." It took us some 8 hours to play through a quick combat and another 8 hours to play through the relatively straight forward investigation that followed. 16 hours of roleplaying into the campaign and we weren't even 1/4 the way through the first session. For some reason we never got back together. After seeing that I would never let a player take duplication unless I had played with them before and decided that they were relatively quick.

I've had up to 5 frameworks on a single character. He was a gadgeteering type and had an EC and three MPs each representing a unique item. He also had a gadget VPP. Now in this case neither I nor my GM saw any problem with that particular character. But I would, as zornwil said, pull out the fine-toothed comb for anyone having more than three.

No I'm paying 17pts for 10pts of CSLs with EB, 7pts of Penalty SLs with rapid fire and, 10pts of 5pt DCV CSLs with a -1 lim only for rapid fire (to overcome the 1/2 DCV). As I am the player in question, I would love to be able to justify the -1 lim but I don't think it is reasonable. Although I may try to go with a -3/4.

Lets see some I have used are doctor, scientist (various), corporate exec, lawyer, deep cover CIA operative, stock car driver and several playboy millionares.

KA, I may well put Find Weakness on the guy (or add it to him later). But the effect I'm looking for is something that would give him some combat capability without using his powers. I find that the ability to take out a thug without active power use can be really useful in certain circumstances and the Find Weakness is something I would probably put a linked to Shrinking disad on. I do think the character is likely to do a lot of growing once he gets into play. It'll be interesting to see exactly where the chracter goes.

Well CSLs are a good buy. A disadvantaged one is likely to be even better.

Yes I know this. But how does this invalidate my comment that you can add limitations to 8pt CSLs? 5pt CSLs can't add to both ranged and HtH attacks. So you need 8pt levels to add DCs to any and all atttacks

A -1? That seems generous to me. I think you are underestimating the multiple targets ability. Yeah it can be duplicated with the rapid fire manouver. But with spread I don't have to deal with -2 OCV per target or with the 1/2 DCV for making the attack or having to take a full phase that rapid fire has. With five dice for spreading I can have move in, blast up to 5 characters (if they are close enough) and have a very good chance of hitting all of them, all while still maintaining a good DCV. This is a very useful ability and one that I imagine I will use frequently.

Actually this sounds just about perfect. I can easily see the guy having been encouraged to be a scholarship athlete. Some of these moves match the always in motion look and feel I was looking for. Thanks LL.

Well he's not really the type of character to do that. Let's just call him less than completely motivated. If he could just walk down the street and into a dojo, he would. But the development of a whole new style of combat is beyond him. He went to college because that's what his parents expected of him. He's a doctor because that is the profession his parents chose for him. He lives in Millenium City because his wife wanted to. He's a hero because that's what his family told him to do when he discovered his powers. He doesn't make choices and he certainly doesn't innovate. So if there were a combat style that matched his needs he could go and learn it, but he wouldn't make one up. If there isn't a real world Martial Art, thats cool. I'll just buy a couple of dice of HtH attack and a couple CSLs. But if something existed that would work for the guy I'ld rather use that because it'll have more flavor.

Isn't this the plot for every published Dr Destoyer adventure? Day of the Destroyer gave a brief synopsys on how the good Doctor was keeping the various big time players busy or had recruited them to join him.

Not quite the visual effect I was looking for. But your idea of flying kicks, movethroughs, etc isn't bad. I forgot to mention that he will have Density Increase linked to the Shrinking so while a 2cm punch is still not overly effective a flying tackle should be viscious. So is there a real world Martial Art which focuses on such full motion attacks like flying tackles?

I think this is a workable idea. Viper's basic motivation is greed. They want money, power, etc. And they don't particularly care exactly how they get it. So the top levels of Viper would probably be open to trying to take over the world if they thought they could do it successfully. However global spaning actions would work great with Viper. Imagine if they started insurgancies all across the board. They could use local causes in a suprising number of locations in the first world and almost everywhere else. Imagine Viper getting involved in Norhtern Ireland, the Basque region in France/Spain, Quebec, and hundreds of others all simultaniously. They might not even want or expect any of these to succede. But as long as they are active they could sell arms, information, and other supplies to the insurgents. And use the chaos to advance any of their own plots. After all it might be signifcantly easier to pull off some fraud or basic theft while the authorities are focused on trying to defend public spaces from insurgents. You may want to allow the heroes a chance to detect and stop much (most?) of the damage before it all goes to hell in a handbasket. Players get uptight if major changes take place in a campaign without them having and chance to prevent or repair it.

Good point. At a 8pt level you can add limitations to them though. There are three things you can do with CSLs. Add OCV, add DCV, and add DCs. Since we are eliminating two of the three I would say that counts as a -1 limit. So two 8pt levels with a -1 lim (only to add DCs) gives us 16 AP, 8 RP. How's that?

I think you just scared him away with your Frou Frou. Seriously though Willis, what exactly are you having problems with? Precise questions are a lot easier to answer. Is there something in particular you are having problems with? If it is the basics about how Hero works here is a nice overview of the whole system. And this one give a good quick overview of how you might want to use Hero in a number of different genres (fantasy, supers, sci-fi, cyber-punk etc.)

16 pts Two 8pt all combat skill levels can add 1DC to any attack.

I have a character I am designing who will have shrinking as a primary power. I want the character to have some combat ability without powers and his punch needs a little bit more oomph. So Martial Arts seems to be the way to go. However I have hit a connundrum. What real world martial art would work best for somone who is only 20 cm tall? Punches and kicks wouldn't be long enough to gather any real momentum and holds and throws would be rather hard to do. It would be like somone wrestling an elephant. Is there a MA which could conceptionally work against an opponent who is 8 times the character's size?

Re: Re: Limitation for only to spread Yes Invictus, I remember him. That's exactly the effect I was looking for. Well -1 seemed too much. As everyone seems to agrees on -1/2 that's what I'll go with.

I am creating a character and I want him to be able to pull of a number of tricks with his EB. All of these tricks seem to be covered under the spread rules. But I don't want him to have to reduce the power of his blasts to get the effects. So the answer is obvious, buy him additional dice of EB with the disad only to spread. The additional dice would be unable to add stun, body or knockback to the attack. So how much of a disad is this worth?